


Deeper Water

by BonesOfBirdWings



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fridge Horror, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 01:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15876069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonesOfBirdWings/pseuds/BonesOfBirdWings
Summary: Alex has drowned again and again. Jonas just wants to help her keep her head above water.





	Deeper Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runicmagitek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/gifts).



He knows there’s a lot that Alex isn’t telling him. There are dark bruises beneath her eyes, and she doesn’t sleep, not really. He’ll come downstairs in the middle of the night to find her sitting in the kitchen, a cold cup of tea nearby and her mind far away.

Ren had asked, when the ferry landed. He’d been cautious, unsure, and Alex had snapped at him. In retrospect, she had acted a lot like the black cat that Jonas had found behind the school when he was seven. He’d approached it in the space between the dumpster and the chain link fence of the playground, hands out, body low, as small as he could make himself. There’d been nowhere for it to run. His mom had disinfected the bite and told him to remember that cornering animals just made them feel more threatened.

At the time, none of them had known how to deal with her. Clarissa had snapped back, Alex had gone on the defensive, practically snarling at all of them. Nona had backed up Clarissa, which hadn’t been helpful at all, and Jonas had to intervene.

She hadn’t talked about the ghosts then, and, two months later, she was still silent.

Their parents finally noticed a couple of days ago. They think it was something recent, that it was a product of Ren and Alex’s friendship falling apart, or the looming fear of college, or the stress of their parents’ remarriage. Jonas couldn’t explain and Alex wouldn’t. 

So that’s why the two of them have been packed up and shipped off to a summer camp.

It’s already off to a _great _start and they’re not even off the bus yet. Some jerkoff thought that Alex was cute (which she is) and that she was a vulnerable target (which she most certainly is not). He’s currently four seats away, nursing his wounded ego and muttering to his other jackass friends.__

__Jonas is sharing a seat with Alex now. It may seem like he’s shielding Alex from the other campers, but honestly, he’s shielding the rest of the campers from Alex. The girl in question is slumped against the window, listlessly watching the trees fly by._ _

__“God,” Jonas sighs. “It’s gonna be a fucking miserable summer.”_ _

__Alex snorts. “You can say that again.”_ _

__“God,” Jonas gets out before Alex slaps a hand over his mouth._ _

__“I can’t believe I’m related to you,” she tells him.  
“You’re not,” he says, but her hand muffles his words. After a moment of contemplation, he sticks out his tongue to lick it._ _

__“Jonas, gross!” Alex exclaims, jerking her hand back and wiping it on her jeans. She’s almost-smiling though, which is the best it gets nowadays. “What are you, five?”_ _

__“Yes,” he tells her seriously. “But I’m very mature for my age.”_ _

__She snorts and affectionately bumps his shoulder with hers. Instead of returning to the window, she allows herself to slump against Jonas. He bumps his chin against the top of her head in return._ _

__Jonas never saw Alex interacting with her friends in a normal context before Edwards Island, so he doesn’t know if she has always been so touch-starved. He’s certainly never liked touching people very much, but after the island and Alex’s obvious need for human contact, he’s gotten used to his sister using him as an all-purpose piece of furniture. It’s nice, he’ll admit. He wouldn’t put up with it from anyone but Alex, but if his sister suddenly stopped, he’d miss it._ _

__He wiggles out his arm from underneath her to drape it across her shoulders and pull her closer. Her head nestles under his jaw. He can feel the gaze of some of the other campers on them, but he doesn’t give a fuck._ _

__After Edwards Island, he hasn’t been able to give a fuck about most things._ _

__They spend the rest of the bus ride playing stupid car ride games, and then, when those get boring, trying to guess details about the other campers from their appearance or behavior. Jonas has to hide a laugh in Alex’s hair when she mutters that Jackass is likely related to lemurs (no, really, Jonas, you saw his eyes when I flipped him off). There’s a song playing again and again, some annoying kid playing it on repeat, and the screams and laughs of the more rowdy boys, and normally Jonas would be so irritated that he’d pick a fight just to make it all stop. But Alex is here, and that makes it all bearable._ _

__Jonas manages to get Alex relaxed and happy for the first time since their parents announced their upcoming summer camp adventures, but all his hard work is undone when they reach the campgrounds._ _

__It’s a beautiful Pacific Northwest forest - towering pines, a hint of fog, crisp scent of a distant ocean._ _

__Which means it looks very much like Edwards Island._ _

__Jonas doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want Alex to be here. He wants to hijack the bus and drive them both back to the city, where they don’t have to deal with this._ _

__The counselor is enthusiastically describing how this camp is a “summer of adventure!” and “your typical summer camp - dialled up to eleven!” Jonas steps closer to Alex and hooks an arm around her waist. He can feel her trembling against him._ _

__“You okay?” he whispers to her. She nods. He can see one of her hands clenched around something in her jacket pocket. He’d bet that it’s one of the WAL radios. He’s caught glimpses of it before in the pocket of her ever-present red jacket._ _

__He stays right beside her through the introductory activities. When the counsellors gather the milling campers together for some inane icebreakers, Jonas maneuvers Alex and himself to the back of the pack. When they assign campers to their shared cabins, Jonas successfully wins a long, vicious argument with one of the counsellors to get a cabin with Alex. He’s not going to leave Alex alone if he can help it._ _

__He really, really doesn’t want to be alone._ _

__After that, they’re fed a bland dinner and then corralled and directed to a large bonfire in the center of the campsite. They sit on poorly chopped logs and Jonas makes sure that he and Alex are seated on the one furthest away from the fire. As darkness falls, one of the counsellors tells them in an overdramatic voice that it’s time for ghost stories._ _

__Alex stiffens against him. Jonas leans his entire weight into her. They can’t easily escape - it’s too light still, and the counsellors are carefully keeping watch. They’ll just have to ride it out. It can’t be that bad, anyway. Ghost stories. They can’t be scarier than real ghosts. They’ll probably just be funny in comparison._ _

__The first few, told by the more exuberant counsellors, are light and silly. Alex marginally relaxes, and Jonas starts to hope that this will be bearable._ _

__And then the kids get into it. The stories get darker, and they escalate quickly. It’s a bunch of high school students trying to one-up each other, and Jonas is sick of them, and sick of this camp, and sick with worry about his sister, who is huddling closer and closer to him._ _

__“And then RAWGH!” Jackass screams, lunging towards the other campers and utterly failing at setting up a good jumpscare. “The scaly hand of the monster grabbed her ankle and pulled her into the water! She tried to struggle, but it was getting darker and darker and there was water all around her -”_ _

__Alex pushes away from Jonas and staggers to her feet. Jonas follows, concerned, as she makes a break for the trees. A glance behind them confirms that no one’s seen them go, so that’s lucky._ _

__The darkness of the forest quickly closes around them. Jonas snags the back of Alex’s jacket in a loose grip. They stumble together over uneven ground and exposed tree roots until Alex collapses in a hollow between two moss-covered rocks. Jonas slots himself in front of her so that she’s shielded from all sides - the rocks and Jonas forming a barrier from the world._ _

__He says nothing. He listens to his sister’s gasping breaths and knows that it’s nothing that words can cure. He closes his eyes and immerses himself in the rustling of pine needles, the distant calls of birds, the persistent harmony of crickets._ _

__After the island, Jonas had found himself surprised by the soft background noise of the world. He hadn’t realized that he was missing it until he had escaped the island. Sometimes, he’d sneak out to the pond behind his new house and listen to the frogs croaking and the mosquitos buzzing around him. Noise reminded him that he wasn’t there._ _

__He wonders what Alex uses to ground herself._ _

__He wonders if she grounds herself at all._ _

__Slowly, softly, Alex calms. She shifts, wiggling her shoes beneath Jonas’ thigh. Jonas doesn’t shift. He won’t leave until she does._ _

__“I drowned,” she tells him, barely a whisper._ _

__He freezes, not daring to make a move, scared that he’ll frighten her away. Like the cat, long ago. If you approach too quickly, too enthusiastically, they’ll run, and you’ll be left with the memory of a four-legged shadow and long, faded scratches._ _

__“I drowned,” she repeats. He makes sure to keep his breathing even. “Over and over, and it’s never really over, Jonas.” He wants to reach out and hold her, but what if she recoils from him? “You know, I’ve… I’ve seen Michael alive again, and Clarissa gone, and Ren happy, and sometimes, you’re a distant figure I never truly get to know. And I’ve drowned and I’ve drowned and I’ve drowned.” She’s almost sobbing now._ _

__“I don’t know if I’ve made it this time, if I’m home safe. God, Jonas, I don’t want to go back.” She sounds so anguished now that Jonas can’t help it. He lunges forward and wraps her in a crushing hug._ _

__Alex pauses for a moment, surprised, before she reaches up and fists her hands in the back of Jonas’ shirt. “I’m tired,” she cries into his shoulder. “I’m so tired, Jonas.”_ _

__“It’s okay,” he says into her hair. He doesn’t know if that’s true or not. But she’s finally, _finally_ talking about it. “It’s okay, you’re safe.”_ _

__“Am I?” she sobs into his t-shirt._ _

__“I’m here,” Jonas says. It’ll all he can give her. He doesn’t remember these other timelines - hell, he barely remembers the time loops on Edwards Island. Everything seems so… linear to him. He wonders what it’s like for Alex._ _

__Her babbling sounds insane… but he doesn’t think he can ever distrust anything Alex tells him. She was his point of stability on that island, the only one who was dealing with the ghosts with anything approaching calm._ _

__He can be her stability now. “Yes,” he reassures her. “It’s… it’s a big time loop, right? How long does it take until you usually reset?”_ _

__“A… a month or so,” she answers tentatively._ _

__“It’s been two months!” he says, triumphant. “Maybe you broke out? Maybe you did something differently?”_ _

__“I… I tried,” Alex confesses. “I fiddled with some frequencies - I… can’t really explain it. I either made things better or worse.”_ _

__“Better,” Jonas insists. “I mean, we’re here, together, far away from all that. That’s gotta be better, right?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Alex agrees softly, hiding a small smile in his chest. “It’s better.”_ _

__“It’s okay, Alex,” he tells her. “I’ve got you.” He can be the grounding force now. “You’re fine.” He’ll make sure of it. “It’s all over now.” There’s a half-familiar song playing at the very edge of his hearing._ _

__“God,” Jonas sighs, “it’s gonna be a fucking miserable summer.”_ _

__The bus truddles along. Alex freezes against him._ _

__“Fuck,” she whispers, just loud enough for him to catch it. “You can say it again.”_ _

__“God,” he starts, but she slaps her hand over his mouth._ _

__“But don’t,” she tells him seriously. “Just… be quiet. Be here. I’ll… It’s all okay.”_ _

__“Okay,” Jonas agrees, confused. Alex just snuggles closer. He closes his eyes and tries to relax._ _

__There’s a song playing again and again and again - some annoying kid playing it on repeat, probably. He wishes someone would just… turn it off._ _

__God, it’s gonna be a fucking miserable summer._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hope you liked this! First time I've been able to write Oxenfree for an exchange, and I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!


End file.
